Authors:

N. Kosar(The Ohio State University)

S. Dorfman(PPPL)

E. Lawrence(PPPL)

H. Ji(PPPL)

M. Yamada(PPPL)

J. Yoo(PPPL)

C. Myers(PPPL)

T. Tharp(PPPL)

In the Magnetic Reconnection Experiment (MRX), two sets of
windings, known as flux cores are used to create plasma and force
reconnection. One active topic of research is the relationship
between the external forcing and the local physics at the
reconnection point. The rate at which the flux core current
changes is defined as the ``drive time'' of the experiment. In
2-D simulations of MRX [1] and in previous MRX experiments, it
was found that the electric field at the reconnection point
scales linearly with the external forcing up to a point, but when
the drive is too fast, the scaling saturates. While this scaling
may be expressed in dimensionless parameters for the simulation,
producing a comparable normalization for the experiment has
proved difficult, possibly due to the effect of initial
conditions. A new experimental scheme has been designed to
produce a range of drives by changing the slope of the current
waveform at a single breakpoint, resulting in uniform initial
conditions. Results from the new setup will be presented. This
work was supported by DOE, NASA, and NSF.\\[4pt]
[1] Dorfman, et al, Phys. Plasmas 15, 102107 (2008).

To cite this abstract, use the following reference: http://meetings.aps.org/link/BAPS.2011.DPP.JP9.21